I like the Sunset Tavern. For being a run-of-the-mill bar in the heart of Ballard, it has a certain charm and allure. Sort of cozy and fun. The soundsystem also doesn’t suck and they have enough equipment to mic a full drumset and all of a band’s instruments, so that helps me to like it as well.

The show last night was all around good. The opening band, The Lonely Forest, played to a small crowd of about 20 people (10 of which were their family and friends). They were obviously a young group of kids but the music was good… sort of Counting Crows-ish without the whiney vocals.

Following them was Kimya Dawson whose name you might recognize from The Moldy Peaches. Her solo set is very soothing and comforting to listen to. You know that White Stripes song “We’re Going To Be Friends”? Imagine a whole set of songs like that with funnier lyrics.

A lot of talkers during this set. I’m surprised it turned out as audible as it did given that she’s a very soft spoken singer whose only accompaniment is an acoustic guitar. Even still, the recording is good and worth the listen.

Jason Collett and his band Paso Mino took the stage at 11 and played for a solid 75 minutes. It was nice to have a band play for more than 45 minutes and even come out for an encore (even though the place didn’t have more than 30 people in it).

That’s something I noticed and found rather odd. I came to the show expecting some kind of turn out given that Jason Collett’s other band Broken Social Scene has a huge following of hip kids. The Sunset even marketed the show on their site as “Jason Collett of Broken Social Scene” so I thought a lot of people would come out to the show just to hear what his solo stuff sounds like. To my surprise, the room never filled up as I had expected. I mean, shit, this venue had more people in it when Wolf Eyes played in October.

No big deal, his set was great and I enjoyed it a good deal. Comparing his singing to Dylan is unavoidable so I will say this: His vocals sound like Ben Lee doing an impression of Bob Dylan. This isn’t a jab or anything, just what popped into my head when he first started singing.

The recording turned out nice enough. Some talkers underneath my stand but whatever, I’m not in the business of telling people what to do at shows. I’m almost positive that Calvin Johnson ran the soundboard for this set as you can hear Jason say his name when trying to fix the microphone after the fourth song. After the show the bass player told me they were going to record at a studio “about a half hour away” which might have meant Johnson’s recording studio Dub Narcotic Recording Studios in Olympia (which is really about an hour and a half away from Seattle).